Welcome to Indy!
I just live west of Indy in Plainfield. I can't really say I do a lot since I'm more of a home-body. I enjoy a simple night out at the movies and a good meal at a great restaurant (Indy isn't lacking for great restaurants!)
But here are a few things I've done/been to/plan on seeing eventually:
Indianapolis Zoo -- a really nice one, with holiday activities too.
Indianapolis Children's Museum -- lots of fun for adults too, and they have adult events where it's only open to those over 21 years old. There are also volunteer opportunities if you want to become involved.
Indianapolis Catacombs - I've been here since I was 8 years old and just now have heard of this! I plan to do a tour this summer:
http://www.indianalandmarks.org/tours/calendar/Pages/SearchResults.aspx?EventID=567Conner Prairie - If you like colonial history, this is a place for you. They have a village with people renacting the settler days. They also have a tethered hot air balloon "ride" where you get a rare view of the area.
http://www.connerprairie.org/Downtown has a nice
Sailor & Soldier's Monument (must go see it decorated like a Christmas tree during the holidays - a must-see event for sure!). There's a museum under it, and you can go up to the top of it too.
http://www.visitindy.com/indianapolis-soldiers-sailors-monument-monument-circleI think you can still rent paddleboats to go down the
Canals downtown.
http://www.wheelfunrentals.com/Locations/Indianapolis-2Another place of history (other than the mentioned places, Museum of Art, Eiteljorg Museum) is the
Historical Society of Indianapolis. It's near the Canals.
There are eating events like the twice-a-year
Devour Downtown, where lots of restaurants around the city have discounted or special menus. My favorite deal is at Fogo de Chao. If you like meat, it's worth the price! But take advantage of the Devour deal if you can.
http://www.devourdowntown.org/If you like pizza, particularly Chicago style deep dish, you'll want to visit
Giordano's. They should open the downtown location this spring, but there's one on the northside of Indy near Castleton. Call ahead to see what the wait is, or go doing an off-time. The pizza takes nearly an hour to bake, so be VERY patient.....it's SO worth it! Come hungry, order a smaller pizza than what you normally do, because yes, it is completely stuffed with gooey cheese:
https://giordanos.com/ Indianapolis Speedway - I was here for a couple of decades before I finally saw an
Indy 500 race, but it was really neat, even though I'm not into racing. It's a very big event here in Indy.
Miniatures Museum (Carmel area) - I love this place!
http://museumofminiatures.org/Bloomington - Major college town (Indiana University) with lots of stuff to do. It's about an hour or so south of Indianapolis. Taste of Bloomington is a fun event.
Indianapolis State Fair usually runs mid-August and is a pretty big event. I go every year! Sometimes more than once
Not only is the food incredible, but they have displays filled with animal, 4-H, farming and other competitions. Also a pretty large carnival ride area. I recommend going on a Tuesday if you can. In previous years they've had $2 Tuesdays where admission is only $2 and most of the food vendors have special or smaller portioned items for $2. Best way to sample a lot of things! Weekends are usually VERY crowded, so I'd recommend going early or on a weekday.
As far as shopping goes, your best malls are
Greenwood Mall and
Castleton Mall. Downtown's
Circle Center Mall is neat to walk through but I like the variety of shops in the other areas. The
Keystone Fashion Mall has more upscale shopping options. I would avoid the area east of I-465 on the east side and the 38th St / Lafayette Road area unless you're with others. They are known to be more dangerous than other areas and frankly the store selection isn't as good anyway. Although the 38th street area does have a lot of neat ethnic restaurants if you're venturesome.
OUTSIDE INDY:Winter can really be a drag around here with the unpredictable weather, but
Paoli Peaks is a decent skiing and snow-tubing spot. I haven't been there in years, but it was a lot of fun!
http://paolipeaks.com/index.htmlEdinburg Premium Outlets is a pretty big outlet store mall.
http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet/edinburgh/about Next to it is a HUGE antique mall,
Exit 76 Antique Mall. Lots of vintage toys (no ponies last I was there) but a huge maze of well-mapped nice display cases and booths. Furniture, clothing, tools, vintage toys all nicely displayed. Not your normal dark and dingy antique mall. It took us a good few hours to see everything.
There are some good festivals in Indiana. I've never been to
Feast of the Hunter's Moon in Lafayette, but plan to one of these years:
http://www.tcha.mus.in.us/feast.htm Blueberry Festival is supposed to be pretty big, but I haven't made it there yet:
http://blueberryfestival.org/Fair Oaks Farm is neat if you're interested in the farm life. It's a huge milk and cheese farming facility near Lafayette just off the I-65 interstate. They have professional tours of the milking facilities and other areas. Lots of animals to see. I've stopped at their shop to get cheese, but my brother said the tour was neat:
http://fofarms.com/ It's on the way to Chicago if you're going up there for the Fair.
I had a good time at the
Renaissance Festival in Fishers:
http://fishersrenfaire.com/ It's in the fall and weather might be an issue, but we still had a great time. I bet there are other RenFaires around, but I just haven't gone to any others.
Brown County is beautiful in the spring, summer and fall. They have hiking and camping areas, as well as a small town with fun shops. There are also lots of cabins to rent, from small to big.
http://www.browncounty.com/Turkey Run Park is near Terre Haute, a great place to hike with neat scenery; I recommend taking a long lazy trip down the river in an innertube (you can rent them) or canoe:
http://fofarms.com/ Cataract Falls is also worth a visit, with Indiana's prettiest waterfalls and areas to wade in.
http://cataractfalls.com/The
Hoerot Pub in Muncie is really unique. It's a college town (Ball State U.). This pub is decorated like the times of Beowulf, has tons of different beers on tap, and decent pizza:
https://local.yahoo.com/info-16040156-heorot-muncie The atmosphere really makes it worthwhile.
The
Covered Bridge Festival in Rockville is another big Indiana tradition. There are several driving routes to go visit some neat and unique covered bridges (usually takes an hour to loop around one drive), but Rockville and Mansfield are PACKED with street vendors. It's a lot of fun! Just be patient with the crowds and expect to do a lot of walking. It's worth paying the parking right on site if you can get there early. They have it yearly in the fall:
http://www.mansfieldcoveredbridge.com/festivalsKing's Island and
Cedar Point are a couple of the best amusement parks (Cincinnati and Sandusky Ohio, respectively). There's also a neat Indiana one that is themed around holidays called
Holiday World. Drinks and sunscreen are free at the many stations around the park. They aren't nearly as big as King's Island, but it's such a unique park, you really should make a trip there. The food prices aren't bad at all, and their waterpark is FANTASTIC! King's Island is about an hour closer (more rides, better rides), but there's nothing like Holiday World
http://www.holidayworld.com/ There are also some popular marathons (even one called the Turkey Dash on Thanksgiving morning), lots of county fairs, some farmer's markets too. Just ask around. Everyone has their favorite places to visit. If more pop in my head, I'll post on this thread again.
Oh! And for local
pony meets, many of us go to Gypsy's meets in Lexington KY. That's usually in the fall. Cincinnati OH had a large pony meet, although its been a couple of years since that's happened. The pony meet up near Lansing Michigan is also a fun one and growing. St Louis has also had a couple of meets and I hear it's growing. I haven't made my way to that one yet, but it's only about a 5 hour drive and lots to do in that city also. All of these usually happen in late summer or fall. And you'll be about 3-4 hours from this year's My Little Pony Fair in Schaumburg, IL near Chicago. That's a whole different list of fun!
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